EMA adds FPGA I/O synthesis tool to its PCB offerings

Did you see the recent "How To" design article on Programmable Logic DesignLine titled Binding the "Ties that Break" – Getting FPGA and PCB designers to meet at the I/O pin negotiating table (article #207100449).

Well, the folks at EMA Design Automation (www.ema-eda.com), one of the world's largest Electronic Design Automation Value Added Resellers, have signed an agreement to be the exclusive North American reseller of 7Circuits, an FPGA I/O synthesis tool from Taray (www.tarayinc.com).

"This partnership provides a long-needed FPGA I/O planning solution to both EMA and Cadence," said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA, a Cadence channel partner. "With this agreement, we can now offer our customers an integrated flow that will dramatically shorten their FPGA and PCB design cycle, and significantly improve their time to market."

"FPGA I/O pin assignment is a big problem for the large, complex FPGA designs seen today," said Hemant Shah, Marketing Director for PCB Products at Cadence Design Systems, Inc. "Traditional approaches require users to do this assignment manually. 7Circuits has a unique pin assignment synthesis approach that makes it easy to design-in large, complex FPGAs on PCBs. To reduce development costs associated with these systems, Cadence continues to work closely with Taray in delivering a solution that is tightly integrated with Cadence's PCB design technology."

Design teams often struggle with FPGA pin assignments, employing manually-intensive methods that neglect the PCB layout until late in the design cycle. This results in increased PCB routing efforts with more layers and vias, both of which can impact manufacturing cost and signal integrity.

In addition, users manually create the symbols and schematics that connect the FPGAs to the rest of the system. To insure consistency, data exchanged throughout the entire design process must be carefully managed for every change to every pin assignment on every FPGA.

7Circuits generates FPGA pin assignments that are optimized for both the FPGA and the PCB. Using its built-in FPGA library and applying a set of user-supplied constraints, 7Circuits' rule-based synthesis engine automatically creates the FPGA pin connections as well as the symbols and schematics for use by the system and PCB designers. Furthermore, it maintains this data throughout the design cycle. It also minimizes or eliminates the possibility for user-induced errors. As a result, customers can decrease their design cycles by as much as 5-15x, depending on the number of FPGAs in the design.

Pricing and availability
For more information about EMA and the products they offer, go to www.ema-eda.com or call 800-813-7494. 7Circuits starts at $10K and is available now from EMA.